WATERBURY — Displaying the same lack of emotion he has shown for weeks, Patrick Cannon barely moved as he stood Friday before a panel of judges who found him guilty of murder and tampering with evidence in the slaying of his wife.

The panel — judges William Cremins, Juliett Crawford and Salvatore Agati — deliberated for most of Thursday, then announced their unanimous decision at about 10:15 a.m. on Friday.

After the decisions were read, Cannon slumped in a wooden chair, his shoulders sunken. Other than his posture, he showed no outward reaction and didn't comment.

While he was on the witness stand this week, Cannon admitted to killing his 35-year-old wife Cynthia during a heated argument in their Spindle Hill Road home in Wolcott in May 2010. He claimed he couldn't remember details of the attack and had lost control.

While reading from prepared statements, Cremins said the panel had found Cannon intended to kill his wife and caused her death. The judges were left to decide whether Cannon suffered an "extreme emotional disturbance" that caused him to lose control as his public defenders claimed.

Cremins said the evidence showed there were ongoing issues in the couple's life, such as foreclosure of their home and possible divorce, but the panel found the moments leading to the homicide were of "no different intensity" than others Cannon had experienced.

Cannon's conduct couldn't reasonably be explained, he said.

Victoria White, Cynthia Cannon's twin sister, along with other friends and family, had watched testimony for weeks as the trial progressed. They were pleased with Friday's outcome, she said, because justice had prevailed for her sister.

"It's quite unfortunate because even though Mr. Cannon is going to have to pay for his crimes, he has left quite a wake of heartache for our family," she said after the decision was announced. "We have children without a mother. We have siblings without a sister, a mother without a daughter and friends and family without one of their loved ones."

Cynthia Cannon, a project accountant for a parking meter equipment company, was described by friends as being a loving and compassionate woman who volunteered for her daughter's Girl Scout troop. White described her sister as a fierce friend, a kind person and a devoted mother.

Cannon's bond was raised to $3 million following the decision. He's scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 10.

"I would like to see him spend the rest of his life behind bars," White said.

Dozens of witnesses and hundreds of exhibits were introduced during the trial, which began on Sept. 24.

Testimony showed Cynthia Cannon wanted to divorce her husband and was counting the days until she could leave their home. A custody battle for their son, Patrick, was likely on the horizon.

Through a meticulous trail of forensic evidence, prosecutors established that authorities found blood throughout the Cannons' home after Patrick Cannon reported his wife missing on May 7, 2010.

Cannon, 48, was charged with his wife's murder days later, but he refused to provide investigators with details of the slaying and wouldn't tell them where he had left her body.

The blood trail found at the home extended onto an outside deck and into Cynthia Cannon's SUV, which was later found abandoned in Waterbury. Police, firefighters and volunteers launched an exhaustive search for her until she was finally found near a highway overpass in Cheshire days after her husband's arrest.

Cannon testified he was holding a hammer and a utility knife in his hands during a heated argument with his wife, but said he couldn't recall the details of the attack. A medical examiner found she had been stabbed twice and bashed at least six times in the head.

Cannon said he remembered finding his wife slumped on a living room couch. He scrubbed blood stains from a cushion, cleaned the floor and zipped her body into a sleeping bag, which he then dumped in Cheshire. That, he said, was to shield her children from seeing their mother dead.

Cannon faces up to life in prison for the killing. He rejected a plea deal last year that called for him to spend 45 years in prison.

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